- ADP: US private payrolls rose by 98,000 in June, less than expected
Source: CNBC
“Private sector employment grew by a seasonally adjusted 98,000 for the month, down from 122,000 in May and a bit below the forecast for 110,000, ADP reported Wednesday. Nearly half the job creation in June — 48,000 — came from the education and health services sector, a consistent leader for payroll growth. All but 2,000 of the new jobs came from services. Annual pay gains for those staying in their jobs held steady at 4.4% while edging higher to 6.6% for job switchers.” (07/01/26)
- Judge orders Pentagon to lift policy that New York Times journalists be accompanied by an escort
Source: Seattle Times
“A federal judge has ordered the Defense Department to temporarily halt its requirement that New York Times journalists be accompanied by an official escort, in another setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict media access at the Pentagon. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington said that policy violated the First Amendment and he issued a preliminary ruling Tuesday barring the requirement while The New York Times continues its legal battle against the department’s restrictions. The order did not specify whether journalists from other organizations would also get relief from that policy.” (07/01/26)
- Germany: Prosecutors Arrest Man Accused of Ordering Killings During Rwanda Genocide
Source: US News & World Report
“German prosecutors arrested a German-Rwandan national on suspicion of being an accomplice to genocide and 25 counts of murder during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, they said in a statement on Wednesday. The suspect, identified only as Innocent S under German privacy rules, is accused of ordering the deaths of 25 Tutsis on five separate occasions while serving as an assistant to the mayor of Kayove in northwestern Rwanda. In one instance, the suspect is accused of personally taking part in the killing by stabbing a victim in the chest with a knife, the prosecutors said.” (07/01/26)
- Meh on the Fourth of July: In Dependence Day
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“The colonists declared independence from Britain. … Today’s America is built on dependence, not independence. The average American is born in a government-regulated hospital, issued a government birth certificate, assigned a government identification number, shipped off as early as possible to government-regulated schools, graciously allowed by government to work in government-regulated businesses (if his or her government papers are found to be in order), retires on a government pension, and is eventually buried or cremated in accordance with government regulations. And, of course, every Fourth of July, he or she dutifully waves a piece of cloth representing that government, cries tears of gratitude for the brave government employees who defend his or her ‘freedom,’ and perhaps — if, and only if, the government allows it — enjoys some fireworks.” (07/01/26)
- Missing Today’s USMCA Deadline Doesn’t Mean the Deal Is Dead
Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome & Chad Smitson“Today (July 1) marks the official deadline for renewing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — and the US is expected to miss it. As I argued in my latest Bloomberg column, the missed deadline won’t be entirely costless but also won’t be as consequential as many headlines suggest. For starters, a missed deadline today simply means the deal will revert to annual reviews until it’s either extended for 16 more years or expires in 2036—ten years away. This will inject uncertainty into North American supply chains, likely hampering investment on the margins. But in terms of day-to-day trade among the three nations, it’ll be unnoticeable. Trump could, of course, try to withdraw from the deal—any party can for any reason, with six months’ notice—and he’s threatened as much. But, as I explain in my column, it’s a safe bet he’s bluffing.” (07/01/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/missed-usmca-deadline-doesnt-mean-deal-dead
- Politics is Mr. Hyde without Dr. Jekyll
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“Politics – and specifically political opinions – can turn people into monsters. It’s almost guaranteed. No one is ever a better person because of their political opinions or because they’re involved in politics. In his story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson was writing a morality tale about the good and evil within each individual and the dangers of drug abuse, but it could apply just as well to politics. Politics is a powerful drug, and it brings the evil within each individual to the surface. Someone may be a decent person, but add some political opinions and they can turn into beasts who want people robbed, caged, or killed because they don’t have a compatible political opinion. The more I see it happen, the less I want politics near me.” (07/01/26)
- FBI Boss Robert Mueller Conned America to Ravage Our Rights
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“Former FBI director Robert Mueller was a twenty-first century version of J. Edgar Hoover, trampling the Constitution and seizing new power on any pretext. When Mueller died in March, the New York Times eulogized him as a ‘button-down, lockjawed, rock-ribbed exemplar of a vanishing caste.’ Media tributes poured in as if Mueller was the law-enforcement version of Mother Theresa. But tell that to the Liberty City Seven, victims in a landmark case in the war on terror that should have defined Mueller’s legacy far more than his photo ops at congressional hearings. The FBI completely fabricated the Liberty City plot in Miami. But Mueller lied, telling America that the arrestees — mostly Haitian-Americans — a ‘homegrown terrorist cell … self-recruited, self-trained, and self-executing.'” (07/01/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/07/01/fbi-boss-robert-mueller-conned-america-to-ravage-our-rights/
- Revolutions Worlds Apart: Why America Chose Liberty and France Chose Terror
Source: The Daily Economy
by Lawrence W Reed“Both the American and French Revolutions promised ‘power to the people.’ One delivered it; the other descended into bloodshed and chaos. Why?” (07/01/26)
- Trump’s War in the Middle East Has One Clear Winner: China
Source: Mother Jones
by Amy Hawkins“China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by the geopolitical consulting firm Asia Group concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict. … China’s electric vehicle exports soared by more than 110 percent in May compared with the previous year, while solar shipments in April increased by 60 percent.” (07/01/26)
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/trump-iran-war-middle-east-winner-china-clean-energy/
- Let’s Reject Assimilation Nonsense
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Among the silliest arguments employed by proponents of America’s socialist (i.e., central planning) system of immigration controls — and the deadly and ruthless immigration police state that comes with it — is the assimilation argument. Immigration statists say that under a free-market immigration system — that is, one based on open borders — there is a risk that immigrants won’t ‘assimilate’ into the general population. Therefore, immigration statists argue, it is necessary that the federal government be in charge of the movements of people into the United States so that it will accept only those who will be likely to ‘assimilate.’ Really? For one thing, what does ‘assimilate’ mean?” (07/01/26)
https://www.fff.org/2026/07/01/lets-reject-assimilation-nonsense/
- 250 years later, free speech is still revolutionary
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Angel Eduardo“The First Amendment was ratified in 1791, guaranteeing that Congress shall make no law abridging our freedom to speak, publish, assemble, worship, and petition the government. But as anyone with a passing knowledge of our history knows, the fight was far from over then. In fact, it was only just beginning — and Philadelphia was ground zero for much of it.” (07/01/26)
https://expression.fire.org/p/250-years-later-free-speech-is-still
- The Hierarchy of Compassion: Who Counts?
Source: Town Hall
by Joe Abraham“Pete Buttigieg and his family should never have endured a malicious false report that brought police and Child Protective Services to their home, temporarily separated him from his young children, and forced his family through a needless ordeal. Authorities quickly determined the allegations were baseless. The bipartisan condemnation that followed was appropriate. Political leaders from across the country spoke with one voice. Commentators expressed outrage. The message was unmistakable: there are lines that should never be crossed. They were right. But watching the response unfold left me asking a question I have carried since my daughter Katie was killed. Why does our political class know exactly how to respond when one of its own is harmed, yet struggle to summon the same moral urgency when ordinary Americans are actually buried?” (07/01/26)
- Socialism: Better Never to Have Been
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“If I were a socialist, I’d be desperate to deny that the Nazis were socialists. Why? Well, it’s bad enough that: * The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics turned out to be a nightmarish totalitarian despotism, a dystopia of mass slavery and mass murder. * The USSR, by conquest and imitation, spawned dozens of additional nightmarish totalitarian despotisms. * These despotisms included the jaw-dropping hellscape of Maoist China, the world’s most populous country at the time. Yet as long as Nazi Germany was not socialist or even anti-socialist, the socialist can find solace in the fact that the Soviet Union was the primary agent in the defeat of an even more nightmarish totalitarian despotism.” (07/01/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/nazism-socialism-and-the-philosophy
- Defining presidential powers in a robust democracy
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Among the slew of decisions being released in the days before the United States Supreme Court adjourns for the summer, two focus on the key issue of presidential or executive power. Each ruling relates specifically to a U.S. president’s ability to remove officeholders in agencies established under acts of Congress. In Trump v. Slaughter, the court ruled 6-3 that the president can fire at will the heads or staff of independent regulatory agencies (in this case, the Federal Trade Commission). In Trump v. Cook, however, the court determined 5-4 that the president could not fire a governor of the Federal Reserve Board without cause or due process. On the surface, the two rulings seem to be in opposition to each other. Yet both underscore a defining characteristic of American democracy – the delicate yet shifting equilibrium among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches that underpins the business of governing.” (06/30/26)
- So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, 07/01/26
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Book banning’s trial of the century w/ Anthony Aycock.” (07/01/26)
- Rising, 07/01/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on leftist candidates like Graham Platner and Darializa Avila Chevalier finding support among more affluent voters rather than the working class.” (07/01/26)
- Why Libertarians Should Care About Longevity: Self-Ownership and the Science of Living Longer
Source: Liberty International
“On Saturday 13 June, Liberty International gathered forty liberty-minded people from around the world for an online conversation on one of the most transformative scientific frontiers of our age — the growing possibility of living longer, healthier lives — examined through the lens of individual freedom.” (07/01/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 07/01/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Here Come The ‘Democratic Socialists’ – Should We Be Afraid?” (07/01/26)